1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to individual alarms and alarm systems. More specifically, the present invention relates to alarms and alarm systems, e.g., for detecting hazards in residential, commercial and industrial applications such as smoke, toxic or explosive gases.
2. Description of Related Art
There has been remarkable growth in the usage of home smoke detectors, principally single-station, battery-operated, ionization-mode smoke detectors. This rapid growth, coupled with clear evidence in actual fires and fire statistics of the lifesaving effectiveness of detectors, made the home smoke detector a fire safety success.
In recent years, however, studies of the operational status of smoke detectors in homes revealed that as many as one-fourth to one-third of smoke detectors are nonoperational at any one time. Over half of the nonoperational smoke detectors are attributable to missing batteries. The rest is due to dead batteries and nonworking smoke detectors. Research showed the principal cause of the missing batteries was homeowner's frustration over nuisance alarms, which are caused not by accidental, unwanted fires but by controlled fires, such as cooking flames. These nuisance or false alarms are also caused by nonfire sources, such as steam emanating from a bathroom shower, dust or debris stirred up during cleaning, or oil vapors escaping from a kitchen.
Centralized fire detection systems also play an important role in protecting the occupants of commercial and industrial buildings. False alarms are detrimental in this setting as well, not only causing inconvenience to building occupants but also potentially creating a dangerous lack of confidence in the validity of future alarms.
Smoke alarms are equipped with hush buttons which simply allow a user to temporarily reduce the alarm sensitivity during a nuisance or false alarm event. However, it is common for the hush button to have to be pressed repeatedly during a single nuisance event. It is possible that the user may decide to disable the alarm altogether rather than deal with nuisance alarms.
Such conventional methods and systems have generally been considered satisfactory for their intended purpose. However, there is still a need in the art for improved device and method for reducing false alarms. The present disclosure provides a solution for this need.